Word of Mouth Marketing: What Makes Your Brand Talkable?

I love sharing this example of what Word of Mouth Marketing looks like “in the wild.”

Earlier this year, I was at a break in a meeting when a friend turned to me and asked me if I had heard about a certain furniture company in town called Room & Board. I had not.

He went on to tell me that this company was rejuvenating the American furniture industry by working with craftspeople and small businesses that had been displaced when manufacturing moved overseas in the 1990s. They worked side-by-side with them on exciting new designs and then helped these businesses sell this artisanal furniture at nation-wide retail locations and an online store.

What a unique and inspiring story!

I was intrigued. I went online to learn more. There was content on the site with stories of their furniture and craftsmen. I scrolled though and also saw the stories of enthusiastic customers. I found the store location and operating hours for my memory bank.

The next week, I happened to be near the store and visited to see for myself what was happening. At the door, I was greeted by a salesperson who had worked at the company for nine years. Here is what I learned:

Every piece of furniture and accessory had a story. She was able to tell me about the craftspeople who made it, the history of the materials in the piece, and how her company worked with American craftspeople to bring it to life.

The company had a flat delivery fee, for any spot in the country.

They had no discounts, deals, or sales. A price was guaranteed for a year so a customer could buy furniture on their own time, not based on a holiday promotion.

The store itself was in an old meat-packing warehouse. Re-developing this space had jump-started urban renewal in the neighborhood.

When the store closed at 7 p.m., the company allowed community groups to hold lectures and meetings in the building.

I was sold! I couldn’t wait to bring my wife to the store and tell my friends about the great things this company was doing for our country, worthy artisans, and the community.

I wasn’t ready to buy furniture, but I was going to talk about this amazing store to anybody who was.

You need to spend some time thinking through what it is about you, your products, and your services that would be talkable. Influencers in your community – the people who share stories the most – thrive on information that has the three qualities we always talk about:

This is Authentic

This is Interesting

This is Relevant

Yes, they spell A-I-R. And in fact, for an influencer, this is the air that they breathe.

If it’s going to be talkable, the story of your brand has to be meaningful to your audience. If you’re building race cars, you won’t get far talking about trunk size. Why? Because race car enthusiasts don’t care about trunk size. But if you’re building family sedans, a story about trunk size is relevant to your potential customers.

Not many people are going to talk about things that are only relevant to you and your business. For a story to get passed around, it has to be somehow connected to the lives of the people doing the talking.